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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Some followers of the madhahib have stated that the hadith: (O boy, say Bismillah and eat with your right hand...) indicates that it is a recommended practice (sunnah) because the boy is not legally accountable. How is this to be refuted?

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The Shaykh : Some followers of the madhahib have stated that the Prophetic hadith
Dear child, mention Allah's Name, eat with your right hand يا غلام سم الله وكل بيمينك
Bulugh al-Maram 8:98
and so on indicates that it is a recommended practice (sunnah) and not obligatory, because the boy is not legally accountable. We ask for a refutation of this statement?
The refutation of this is simple: recall with me the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)
Command your children to pray when they become seven مروا أولادكم بالصلاة وهم أبناء سبع
Sunan Abi Dawud 495Hasan Sahih (Al-Albani)
Is there anyone who says that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to command our children to pray, and that this indicates that prayer is not obligatory? No. The Wise Lawgiver commands us to discipline our children from the beginning of their discernment, from the age of seven, to command them to observe Islamic etiquette, especially what is among the obligatory duties. Among these is
Command your children when they are seven years old مروا أولادكم وهم أبناء سبع
It does not mean that this prayer is not obligatory for adults. No, because its obligation is established by many texts. However, we were commanded in this hadith to raise our children in accordance with this obligation that we were commanded to perform. So here, when the Lawgiver said
Say the Name of Allah, eat with your right hand سمّ الله وكل بيمينك
Sunan Ibn Majah 3267Sahih (Darussalam)
this does not mean that it is not obligatory because he is not fully legally accountable, just as is the case with prayer. Especially since other hadiths have come, such as
Say Bismillah سموا الله
"Say Bismillah." This is a general command for all legally accountable adults. So when such a command is directed to the boy, it is like the command directed to him regarding prayer. Neither indicates that what is commanded here and there is not an obligatory matter.
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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